So I went a little stupid mode on this costume and I fully intend to make v2 even more stupid. It doesn't look like it, right? We originally intended these costumes for World Cosplay Summit so the devil's in the details. That interlocking square pattern on the blue fabric? 60 hours of embroidery on top of the 3 days it took in the NYC fashion district to find a medium weight blue twill. Apparently medium blue isn't in style right now.

The chainmail that I don't have pictures of me wearing because I like being able to move my arms? Another 50 hours. Usually chainmail shirts are quite loose because obviously chainmail doesn't stretch, but Date apparently has magical stretchy chainmail. I had to weave this strange diagonal pattern with rubber bottom links to get it tight enough, but I can't rotate my arms in it. ...Back to the drawing board!

Sanding the armor? ...Let's not talk about that... The armor is all EVA foam coated in resin, sanded down, and painted with a mix of pewter and onyx Rub 'n buff. For future reference, when coating foam, use a rotocast resin so it self-levels. Otherwise... invest in a power sander :|

The pattern was developed from scratch... I'm quite proud of the "Jafar Shoulders"; since the fabric embroidery was so dense, I didn't need to interface them (or the collar, for that matter). Happy accidents.

I sewed a new part into the wig because I can buy lacefronts locally and couldn't find one with the correct part. D:

I ended up modifying a lightsaber (Date's joke weapon from SB3) and toting that around because my Dragon Claws met an unfortunate end. It might be my favorite part XD
For Sakura Matsuri I salvaged one of the claws: It's balsa wood carved down, then coated with resin, and sanded. The hilt is pvc pipe covered in papertape, wrapped traditionally (with the help of E6000 whoops) and decorated with model magic details. It wasn't too bad, but six of them... Aha.

So yeah. Giant trial and error project that I'm crazy excited to redo for real! ...Except dear lord why am I doing this to myself? :D;;;

Personal Thoughts:

BURAST AUWWWWF!!!

C'mon, guys. It's the one-eyed Put Ya Guns On Sengoku-era Yakuza boss with a sword guard for an eye patch. It should be a crime to not cosplay this crazy mofo.